VacationSelector
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island

Photos: Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Galle or Hurghada?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Galle for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Galle’s own page.

Choose Hurghada for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Hurghada’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Galle 80, Hurghada 84: Hurghada leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Galle 50, Hurghada 34: Galle leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Galle 55, Hurghada 14: Galle leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Galle 18, Hurghada 40: Hurghada leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galle 66, Hurghada 72: Hurghada leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Galle 50, Hurghada 30: Galle leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Galle 42, Hurghada 62: Hurghada leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Galle 35, Hurghada 22: Galle leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Galle 33, Hurghada 24: Galle leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Galle 72, Hurghada 80: Hurghada leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galle and Hurghada are level on 10.
Wellness & relaxation. Galle 70, Hurghada 44: Galle leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galle and Hurghada.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Galle
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Hurghada
43match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalleHurghada

Where the figures come from

Galle has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalleHurghada
Official languageTamil, SinhalaArabic
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation0 m11 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalleHurghada
City population93,118214,247
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galle or Hurghada somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.